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In other news, the solar cells installed on the White House by Carter apparently still provided energy ten years ago [1], and those who were not broken delibera

• clarionbell 4y ago
  Those are not solar cells, those are water heaters. In the interest of being honest. No wonder they still work, those are literally water pipes embedded in a roof panel. No inverter, no battery, nothing. The only thing they have in common with solar cells people install today is the fact that they are powered by sun.
  • nicoburns 4y ago
    Worth noting that people do still install those today in addition to PV panels. PV panels seem to get 20-30 years of use, which isn’t bad at all. And I believe they usually still work after that time, just with reduced efficiency.
    • arcticbull 4y ago
      There's also some cool combo rooftop solar panels/water heaters. [1] By cooling the panels themselves they increase their efficiency by up to 15% (so an increase from ~20% to ~23% total efficiency) - while also heating water for the home. [1] https://dualsun.com/en/product/hybrid-panel-spring/ https://dualsun.com/en/product/hybrid-panel-spring/
    • pfdietz 4y ago
      It is my understanding that residential solar water heating is moving to PV + heat pump water heaters.